lowen



(No Model) H. LOWEN.

TUNING HMENT FOR PIANO FORTES. No. 258,935. Patented June 6,1882.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

JOHN H. LOWEN, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS, ASSIGNOB OF ONE-HALF TO JOHN A. NEWMAN, OF SAME PLACE.

TUNING ATTACHMENT FOR PlANO-FORTES.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 258,935, dated June 6, 1882,

' Application filed March 7, 1882. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, JOHN H. LOWEN, a subject of the King of Sweden, residing at Ohicago, in the county of (look and State of Illinois, have invented a certain new and useful Improvement in Tuning Attachments for Piano-Fortes, of which the following is a specification.

- My invention has for its object to provide piano-fortes with an inexpensive attachment whereby when the strings have been strained -to proper tone any slight variations therein often occurring, which tend to produce discords, may be easily remedied without resort to the straining-pins, as ordinarily required.

To this end my invention consists in attaching to the bed or belly of a piano-forte a slotted frame, through which the strings pass, which said frame carries in suitable threaded 2o perforations a series of adjusting-screws that bear directly upon the series of strings ar' ranged beneath.

In the accompanying drawings, wherein like letters of reference indicate corresponding parts, Figure l is a plan view of the piano forte frame provided with my improved tuning attachment, and Fig. 2 is a longitudinal section of one end of the same enlarged.

A designates the bed or belly of the frame,

0 provided with the usual block, B, carrying pins 0, to which the ends of the wire strings D are attached, and provided also with the bridge 15, over which the strings pass.

Intermediate the pin or wrest block B and 5 bridge E is placed my improved tuning attachment, consisting of an arched frame, F, which extends across the bed or belly, and is furnished with screw-threaded perforations to receive the adjusting-screws G, preferably one 40 for each string. This frame is screwed securely to the bed, and is provided with a series of slots,f, through which the strings pass, and by means of which each string is held in proper position and below its corresponding 5 adjusting-screw.

From the above-described construction it will be readily seen that, the strings having been placed upon the frame of the piano-forte and stretched in the usual manner, and the arched frame having been placed in proper position, any necessary variation in the tone of a string can be easily effected by turning its adjusting-screw either to force the string downward, and thus increase its tension and correspondingly raise its tone, or to relax the string, and so lower its tone.

A tuning attachment of the character described, while exceedingly simple and inexpensive and capable of ready application to the ordinary construction of piano-fortes, is an effective means for adjusting the tone of the strings with great accuracy and ease, and the tendency of the strings to slacken,so common in the ordinary forms of instruments, is avoided.

It is obvious that the precise form and-arrangement of my attachment shown may be varied somewhat without departing from the spirit of my invention. Thus the ends may be rigidly secured to the frame of the piano-forte instead of being held by screws to the bed,

and its location also may, iftlesired, be changed,

although I regard that shown as the preferable one.

I am aware that it has been heretofore proposed to apply to each string of a piano-forte a separate tuning attachment, consisting of two crescent-shaped pieces clamped to the string by an adjusting-screw; but this form of attachment is objectionable, as being not only expensive, but also for the further reason that as it is not connected securely to the bed or frame of the instrument it is liable to be affected by its vibrations and give an unpleasant rattling sound.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

1. In piano-forties, the combination, with the bed thereof, of atuning attachment which consists of a frame extended across the strings, and which is provided with threaded perforations and with a series ofadjusting-screws that bear directly upon the strings beneath, substantially as described.

2. The combination, with the bed or frame of a piano-forte, of the arched frame F, provided with adj Listing-screws G and guide-slots f, and extending across the strings, substantially as described.

' JOHN H. LOWEN. Witnesses:

WILLIAM G. WHITING, JOHN NEWMAN- 

